patten



2* Sheets-Sheet l1.

(No Modl.)

J. Si PTTEN. GAR XLB LUBRIGATOR.

* PatentedApr. 7,1896.

WITNESSES.

Arron/vers.'

GRAHAM. FMUTOTUDMWASHINSTDNLQ,

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. S. PVFIEN.n GAB. AXLE LUBRIGATOR. No. 557,871. PatentedApr. 7, 1896i W/TNESSES.'

MMO/#M BY mmm/mg* A TTOHNE YS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. PATTEN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE PATTEN SELF-OILING AXLE AND JOURNAL COMPANY OF BALTIMORE CITY.

CAR-AXLE LUBRICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent No. 557,871, dated April 7, 1896.

Application filed July 1,1895. Serial No. 5 54,617. (No model.)

T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that l, JAMES S. PATTES, of Baltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Axle Lubricators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is in the cla-ss of axlelubri cators having a lubricant-holder containing means for taking up a liquid or semiliquid lubricant and transferring it to the journal.

The means which my experience has demonstrated to be superior for this purpose are rollers mounted to rotate in a frame swiveled on the bottom of the lubricant-holder, Which is supported by a spring, so that they (the rollers) are held in easy-Working contact with the axle-journal.

To confine the lubricant and prevent its Waste, also to exclude dust, tte., I have devised and successfully used a device Which also serves as a brass7 or journahbearing proper.

Practical use has demonstrated that the lubricant tends to run along the journal and thus escape at the rear end of the box. To prevent this, many expedients have been devised and tested. I have discovered a simple and effective means, which involve no supplemental device or attachment of the oilbox or brass, but form integral portions of the latter, whereby important practical advantages are attained.

An important feature in the construction of the brass or bearing proper is the form of its end portions, whereby the adjacent axlejournal shoulder and head are prevented from Wearing recesses in the same, so that excess ive friction and the consequent danger of a hot box from such cause are avoided.

I Will proceed to describe my invention by reference to accompanying drawings, two sheets, in Which- Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of a car-axle box, journal-bearing or brass, and a lubricant-holder or oil-box, some parts being shown in dotted lines for sake of clearer illustration of more important ones. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my improved brass or journal-bearing. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of an ordinary brass having its ends constructed according to myinvention. Fig.

is a vertical cross-section of the brass and axle-journal on line a: of Fig. l. Fig. 4E is partly an end view and partlya vertical section of the brass and journal, the section being taken just back of the flange or head of the journal.

Referring, in the first instance, particularly to Fig. l, A indicates the brass or combined j ournal bearing and cap, which chieiiy embodies my present invention. It is shown applied to an axle-journal B in connection with a lubricant-holder or oil-boX O, containing oil-transfer rollers D, and is supported by a curved plate-spring E, all said parts being inclosed in an axle-box F of the pattern commonly used on railway-cars at the present time.

The brass and journal-cap A (shown detached and enlarged in Fig. 2) has a semioctagonal top, pendent outwardly curved side Wings a, and a closed front end d', all constructed integrally.

The lower edges, Fig. l, of such wings a and end portion or cap d enter and lie Within the oil-box C. An opening a2 and notch as, formed in the end a of the brass, are normally closed by a spring-plate ai, Fig. 1, that may be easily pushed back when it is desired to inspect the oil-box O or introduce a supply of lubricant. The latter, being taken up by the rollers D, is constantly fed to the friction or Contact surfaces of the brass A and jonrnal B. Portions of the brass A (which is in such frictional contact an d conforms thereto) terminate at the sides in shoulders l, Figs. 1, 3, and et, that extend longitudinally of the brass.

A portion of the lubricant transferred to the journal is arrested by such shoulders l and for the most part flows down the Wings a and returns into the oil-box C; but a smaller portion tends to flow or creep along the Wings c, and if unobstructed would reach and pass over the journal-shoulder 3, Fig. l, and thus escape and be Wasted.

I have found that separate or independent devices for arresting this passage of the lubricant or oil, and thus confining it within proper limits, may be dispensed with and the service effectively performed by means which constitute an integral portion of the brass. The

IOO

said means are most clearly represented in Figs. l and 2, and consist of guards l, in the nature of ribs or projections, on the interior of the divergin g wings a of the brass A. The said ribs i are located at the rear end of the brass and extend downward from the semicircular portion l of the same, being thus in frictional contact with the journal B at their upper ends. There may be one or more of these guards 4, but I preferably employ three, one of them being at the extremity of a wing a and the others parallel thereto, but separated by narrow spaces.

The guards 4 not only 'arrest or cut off the flow of oil along the inner surface of the wings (t of the brass and divert it downward, and thus cause it to return into the oil-box C, so that escape and waste of the same at that point are avoided, but they materially brace or strengthen the wings a where they are weakest and enable the latter to be cast very thin.

A further improvement is embodied in another integral construction of the brass,which will now be described.

As usually constructed, the shoulder 3 and ange or head 3' of the axle-journal B gradually wear into the ends of the brass A, so that the latter in time comes to have recesses and project over the said shoulder and flange. The frictional 0r wearing surface is thus increased and the danger of a hot box correspondingly so.

I so construct the ends of the brass as to avoid this result at any stage in its use and wear-that is to say, I cut away the end of the brass on the upper side upon a curve or incline, as shown in Figs. l and 2, In the latter an ordinary brass is shown with its ends cut back on the upper side, such cut away portion being inclined downward to the extremities that abut the journal-shoulder and head when the brass is in use. For convenience of further description I will designate these cut-away or reduced portions as bevels.

In Fig. l (see also Fig. 2) the cap and bearing are shown provided with a groove in each end. It will be seen that this construction is in effect the same as that shown in Fig. 2n, since the extremities of the bearing which are contiguous to or abut the ground shoulder 3 and head 3 are inclined or beveled in the same manner. In both cases such extremities are intended to be of practically the same radial thickness as the ordinary shoulder and iiange; but it is obvious that if the extremity of the brass be of due thickness to enable it to properly resist wear the shoulder of the axle might considerably exceed it in height without any material difference in result. It will now be seen that as the extremities of the brass wear away no rabbet, recess, or overhang will be formed in its extremity by contact and friction with the axle shoulder and head, despite the fact that the thickness of the beveled portion increases from the extremities inward, since the under side of the brass A, that rests on t-he journal B, wears away to an extent corresponding to the wear of such extremity of the bevel. Thus, practically, the beveled portions re main always of substantially the same thickness at their extremities so long as the brass is in use, and hence friction is not increased by wear.

The oil which works up and obtains access to the groove 5 will flow down and out at each end of the same, and thus be returned into the box C; but to permit this to be done most eifectively the ends of the wings or sides a of the brass A are cut back, as shown at 6 in Fig. 2, so that the oil may drop free from the ends of the groove without striking upon the wings. This feature of my invention is applicable to the ordinary brass or bearing, as shown in Fig. 2a, in which the ends of such brass are shown cut away on the upper side, so that as the reduced portions in contact with the shoulder and flange of an axle-joui'- nal wear back no angular recess will be formed in the ends of the brass and no increased friction or danger of a hot box will result.

By the construction before described I provide in one integral device a brass or j ournalbearing proper, a j ournal-cap or hood-like cover and protector, and means for deflecting and confining within required limits the oil which would otherwise escape by being thrown from the axle or by passing along the upper side of the journal.

My invention is not necessarily restricted to car-axles, since it is, in part at least, applicable to journals or other shafts.

W'hat I claim isl. The improved brass, or journal-bearing, having pendent lateral wings which are provided on their inner sides and at their rear ends with one or more ribs that extend downward, as and for the purpose specied.

2. A combined journal-bearing and cap or hood having a pendent front portion and sides, which latter diverge from the portion in contact with the journal, and are provided near their rear ends with transverse ribs that extend downward from a point where they are in frictional contact with the journal, as shown and described.

3. The combination, with a journal, alubricant-holder, or oil-box, and means for transferring lubricant from the latter to said journal, of the journal-cap, having a pendent end and sides, or wings, which latter t within the oil-box and are provided with guards or deflectors composed of ribs arranged vertically on their inner sides, substantially as shown and described. l

4. A brass or j ournal-bearing having its ends beveled, or cut back on an incline, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, with an axlejournal having a shoulder, of a brass or bearing having its end portion beveled, the extremity of the bevel being practically the same 0r else IOO IIO

of less height than said shoulder, substantially as shown and described for the purpose specified. y

G. The brass or j ournal-bearing, having its end portion out back or beveled, as speciied, and having sides, or Wings, Whose rear ends are cut away and thus recede from the eX- t-remities of the bevels, as shown and described for the purpose specified.

7. The combination, with the axle box and journal, of the journal-cap having integral sides and oil-guards, and ends out away as specified, an oil-box, oil-take-up rollers arranged in the latter, and a spring supporting said oil-box, as shown and described.

JAMES S. PATTEN. Witnesses:

MoRToN SCHAEFFER, THos. C. BAILEY. 

